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Results for “GALACTIC RADIATION”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1974

Interaction of metagalactic X-UV radiation with galactic hydrogen

Calculations show that the existence of a metagalactic X-UV flux of the intensity required to explain the high-latitude soft X-ray observations, plus a reasonable extrapolation toward lower energies, is consistent with the existence of neutral hydrogen in galaxies. Shielding by H II slabs can be effective both in the solar neighborhood and in the peripheries of galaxies out to a radius of 30 to 40 kpc. At earlier cosmological epochs shielding is less efficient. The soft X-ray spectrum as observed by Yentis et al. (1972) is difficult to reconcile with a purely extragalactic origin for the flux. A local source of ionization also may be necessary to explain the pulsar dispersion data.

Hill, J. K.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Biostack: A study of the biological effects on HZE galactic cosmic radiation

The Biostack experiment designed to study the effect of individual heavy nucleii of the cosmic radiation environment upon biological systems during actual space flight is described. In each Biostack, several thousand biological objects were hit by an HZE particle. The response of the biological objects was studied. Results are discussed in terms of sensitivity to the hit.

Horst Bücker↗
NASA NTRS1985

Diffuse galactic annihilation radiation from supernova nucleosynthesis

The propagation of MeV positrons in the outer ejecta of type I supernovae was investigated. It was found that the positrons created at times of approx 100 days propagated along magnetic field lines in the outer ejecta without any appreciable pitch-angle scattering or excitation of hydromagnetic waves. The lack of significant pitch-angle scattering is well consistent with models of wave excitation and scattering by resonant interactions. This occurs because time periods to scatter the particles or to excite waves are significantly longer than escape times. Thus it is expected that, when positrons are not coupled to the ejecta by Coulomb collisions, they escape from the relatively cold, dense ejecta and reside predominantly in the tenuous, hotter, shock-heated interstellar gas. In the tenuous shock-heated gas the positron lifetime against annihilation is much greater than lifetimes in the dense ejectra. Thus the production of steady-state diffuse annihilation radiation by some fraction of these escaped positrons seems probable.

Higdon, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1992

TeV radiation from galactic sources

The detection of the Crab Nebula as a steady source of TeV gamma rays puts the field of Very High Energy Gamma-Ray Astronomy on a firm observational basis and permits a critical reassessment of the claims for the detection of a multitude of episodic binary sources. A new generation of detectors in the TeV and PeV energy regions is coming on-line; together with the telescopes of the Gamma-Ray Observatory, these instruments will present a new perspective on one of the last frontiers of astronomy.

Weekes, Trevor C.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Results of Simulated Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR) and Solar Particle Events (SPE) on Spectra Restraint Fabric

Spectra or similar Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fabric is the likely choice for future structural space suit restraint materials due to its high strength-to-weight ratio, abrasion resistance, and dimensional stability. During long duration space missions, space suits will be subjected to significant amounts of high-energy radiation from several different sources. To insure that pressure garment designs properly account for effects of radiation, it is important to characterize the mechanical changes to structural materials after they have been irradiated. White Sands Test Facility (WSFTF) collaborated with the Crew and Thermal Systems Division at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) to irradiate and test various space suit materials by examining their tensile properties through blunt probe puncture testing and single fiber tensile testing after the materials had been dosed at various levels of simulated GCR and SPE Iron and Proton beams at Brookhaven National Laboratories. The dosages were chosen based on a simulation developed by the Structural Engineering Division at JSC for the expected radiation dosages seen by space suit softgoods seen on a Mars reference mission. Spectra fabric tested in the effort saw equivalent dosages at 2x, 10x, and 20x the predicted dose as well as a simulated 50 year exposure to examine the range of effects on the material and examine whether any degradation due to GCR would be present if the suit softgoods were stored in deep space for a long period of time. This paper presents the results of this work and outlines the impact on space suit pressure garment design for long duration deep space missions.

Peters, Benjamin↗
NASA NTRS2018

Coalescence of DNA Double Strand Breaks Induced by Galactic Cosmic Radiation is Modulated by Genetics in 15 Inbred Strains of Mice

In this manuscript we address the challenges associated with the ability to predict radiation sensitivity associated with exposure to either cosmic radiation or X-rays in a population study, by monitoring DNA damage sensing protein 53BP1 forming small nuclear radiation-induced foci (RIF) as a surrogate biomarker of DNA double strand breaks (DSB). 76 primary skin fibroblasts were isolated from 10 collaborative cross strains and five reference inbred mice (C57Bl/6, BALB/CByJ, B6C3, C3H and CBA/CaJ) and exposed to three different charged nuclei of increasing LET (350 MeV/n Si, 350 MeV/n Ar and 600 MeV/n Fe) and X-ray. Our data brings strong evidence against the classic "contact-first" model where DSBs are assumed to be immobile and repaired at the lesion site. In contrast, our model suggests nearby DSBs move into single repair unit characterized by large RIF before the repair machinery kicks in. Such model has the advantage of being much more efficient molecularly but is poorly suited to deal with cosmic radiation, where energy is concentrated along the particle trajectory, inducing a large density of DSBs along each particle track. In accordance with this model, RIF quantification after X-ray exposition showed a saturated dose response for early time points post-irradiation for all strains. Similarly, the high-LET response showed that RIF number matched the number of track per cell, not the number of expected DSB per cell (1). At the temporal level, we noted that the percentage of unrepaired high-LET tracks over a 48 hour time-course increased with LET, confirming that the DNA repair process becomes more difficult as more DSB coalesce into single RIF. There was also good agreement between persistent RIF levels measured in-vitro in the primary skin cultures and survival levels of T-cells and B-cells collected in blood samples from 10 CC strains 24 hours after 0.1 Gy whole-body dose of X-ray. This suggests that persistent RIF 24 hour post-IR is a good surrogate in-vitro biomarker for in-vivo radiation toxicity. Finally, at the genomic level, large differences in repair rates between strains for high-LET allowed us to identify suggestive genetic loci associated with radiation sensitivity. Interestingly, the two highest LETs provided the most strain variation with a common locus on Chromosome 10 highly enriched for DNA repair associated genes we discussed in detail.

Radiation-Induced Foci↗
NASA NTRS1978

Gamma-ray astronomy and the origin of cosmic rays

Recent observations of cosmic gamma radiation are reviewed. It is shown that this radiation consists of an extragalactic background as well as a bright band of galactic radiation lying in the plane of the Milky Way and produced primarily by cosmic-ray collisions with interstellar gas atoms. The galactic gamma radiation is divided into a near component apparently associated with Gould's belt and a far component originating about 15,000 light years away and narrowly confined to the galactic plane. A Great Galactic Ring is identified which is 35,000 light years in diameter and in which most galactic cosmic rays are produced and supernovae and pulsars are concentrated. The physical mechanisms responsible for the production of most of the cosmic gamma rays in the Galaxy are examined, and the origin of galactic cosmic rays is considered. It is concluded that the cosmic rays are produced either in supernova explosions or in the pulsars they leave behind

Stecker, F. W.↗
NASA NTRS1965

Ionization experiment

Mariner space probe ionization chamber and Geiger counter experiments on galactic radiation entering solar system

GALACTIC RADIATION↗